Developmental contexts and features of elite academy football players: Coach and player perspectives

Player profiling can reap many benefits; through reflective coach-athlete dialogue that produces a profile the athlete has a raised awareness of their own development, while the coach has an opportunity to understand the athlete's viewpoint. In this study, we explored how coaches and players perceived the development features of an elite academy footballer and the contexts in which these features are revealed, in order to develop a player profile to be used for mentoring players. Using a Delphi polling technique, coaches and players experienced a number of 'rounds' of expressing their opinions regarding player development contexts and features, ultimately reduced into a consensus. Players and coaches had differing priorities on the key contexts of player development. These contexts, when they reflect the consensus between players and coaches were heavily dominated by ability within the game and training. Personal, social, school, and lifestyle contexts featured less prominently. Although 'discipline' was frequently mentioned as an important player development feature, coaches and players disagreed on the importance of 'training'

Metal-substituted protein MRI contrast agents engineered for enhanced relaxivity and ligand sensitivity

Engineered metalloproteins constitute a flexible new class of analyte-sensitive molecular imaging agents detectable by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but their contrast effects are generally weaker than synthetic agents. To augment the proton relaxivity of agents derived from the heme domain of cytochrome P450 BM3 (BM3h), we formed manganese(III)-containing proteins that have higher electron spin than their native ferric iron counterparts. Metal substitution was achieved by coexpressing BM3h variants with the bacterial heme transporter ChuA in Escherichia coli and supplementing the growth medium with Mn3+-protoporphyrin IX. Manganic BM3h variants exhibited up to 2.6-fold higher T1 relaxivities relative to native BM3h at 4.7 T. Application of ChuA-mediated porphyrin substitution to a collection of thermostable chimeric P450 domains resulted in a stable, high-relaxivity BM3h derivative displaying a 63% relaxivity change upon binding of arachidonic acid, a natural ligand for the P450 enzyme and an important component of biological signaling pathways. This work demonstrates that protein-based MRI sensors with robust ligand sensitivity may be created with ease by including metal substitution among the toolkit of methods available to the protein engineer.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Grant R01-DA28299 )National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH NRSA Fellowship (Award F32-GM087102))California Institute of Technology (Caltech Jacobs Grant

Towards a model of talent development in physical education

Traditional conceptions of talent generally emphasise the construction of threshold values and the development of relatively unitary abilities, and this approach still dominates talent development programmes for elite sport. Most researchers on high ability, however, now favour domain-specific, multidimensional conceptions of ability that stress the development of behavioural potential and its interaction with personal and environmental characteristics. This paper presents a model of talent in physical education, drawing together findings from a wide range of literature on the realisation and inhibition of abilities, international studies of effective school-based identification and provision strategies, and a conception of the subject as an integration and realisation of different forms of ability. In presenting this model, the authors aim to redress the imbalance within the current debate from an almost total concern with out-of-school clubs and the preparation for adult elite sport, in favour of a more equitable and inclusive approach, premised upon the unique importance of mainstream, curricular physical education within any talent development scheme

Soft drink and juice consumption and renal cell carcinoma incidence and mortality in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for more than 80% of kidney cancers in adults, and obesity is a known risk factor. Regular consumption of sweetened beverages has been linked to obesity and several chronic diseases, including some types of cancer. It is uncertain whether soft drink and juice consumption is associated with risk of RCC. We investigated the associations of soft drink and juice consumption with RCC incidence and mortality in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Methods: A total of 389,220 EPIC participants with median age of 52 years at recruitment (1991–2000) were included. Cox regression yielded adjusted HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for RCC incidence and mortality in relation to intakes of juices and total, sugar-sweetened, and artificially sweetened soft drinks. Results: A total of 888 incident RCCs and 356 RCC deaths were identified. In models including adjustment for body mass index and energy intake, there was no higher risk of incident RCC associated with consumption of juices (HR per 100 g/day increment = 1.03; 95% CI, 0.97–1.09), total soft drinks (HR = 1.01; 95% CI, 0.98–1.05), sugar-sweetened soft drinks (HR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.94–1.05), or artificially sweetened soft drinks (HR = 1.02; 95% CI, 0.96–1.08). In these fully adjusted models, none of the beverages was associated with RCC mortality (HR, 95% CI per 100 g/day increment 1.06, 0.97–1.16; 1.03, 0.98–1.09; 0.97, 0.89–1.07; and 1.06, 0.99–1.14, respectively). Conclusions: Consumption of juices or soft drinks was not associated with RCC incidence or mortality after adjusting for obesity

Controlled Orientation of Active Sites in a Nanostructured Multienzyme Complex

Multistep cascade reactions in nature maximize reaction efficiency by co-assembling related enzymes. Such organization facilitates the processing of intermediates by downstream enzymes. Previously, the studies on multienzyme nanocomplexes assembled on DNA scaffolds demonstrated that closer interenzyme distance enhances the overall reaction efficiency. However, it remains unknown how the active site orientation controlled at nanoscale can have an effect on multienzyme reaction. Here, we show that controlled alignment of active sites promotes the multienzyme reaction efficiency. By genetic incorporation of a non-natural amino acid and two compatible bioorthogonal chemistries, we conjugated mannitol dehydrogenase to formate dehydrogenase with the defined active site arrangement with the residue-level accuracy. The study revealed that the multienzyme complex with the active sites directed towards each other exhibits four-fold higher relative efficiency enhancement in the cascade reaction and produces 60% more D-mannitol than the other complex with active sites directed away from each other.ope

Understanding parental stressors: An investigation of British tennis-parents

This article was published in the Journal of Sports Sciences [Routledge (© Taylor & Francis)] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640410802603871In this study, we examined the stressors experienced by British tennis-parents. The parents (n¼123) completed an extensive survey focused on the internal and external demands that they had encountered through having a child compete in the sport. The survey consisted of open-ended questions related to competition, coaching, organizational, personal, and developmental issues. Inductive and deductive content analysis resulted in the development of seven core themes of tennis-parental stressor: competition, coaches, finance, time, siblings, organization-related, and developmental. Parents experienced a diverse number of competitive stressors indicating the particular difficulties they faced before, during, and after matches involving their child, opponents, other parents, and officials. They also reported a wide range of organizational stressors that paralleled the financial, social, and personal investments that accompanied their support roles. The results of this research reinforce the importance of parents possessing the necessary skills to cope with the psychological, developmental, and logistical demands of competitive tennis. Implications with respect to induction workshops and education for coaches and parents are presented, as well as consideration for governing bodies to enhance their communication channels and logistical support. Future research recommendations are posed to build upon the study of this domain in youth sport

Correlates of Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D: Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers

Low vitamin D status is common globally and is associated with multiple disease outcomes. Understanding the correlates of vitamin D status will help guide clinical practice, research, and interpretation of studies. Correlates of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations measured in a single laboratory were examined in 4,723 cancer-free men and women from 10 cohorts participating in the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers, which covers a worldwide geographic area. Demographic and lifestyle characteristics were examined in relation to 25(OH)D using stepwise linear regression and polytomous logistic regression. The prevalence of 25(OH)D concentrations less than 25 nmol/L ranged from 3% to 36% across cohorts, and the prevalence of 25(OH)D concentrations less than 50 nmol/L ranged from 29% to 82%. Seasonal differences in circulating 25(OH)D were most marked among whites from northern latitudes. Statistically significant positive correlates of 25(OH)D included male sex, summer blood draw, vigorous physical activity, vitamin D intake, fish intake, multivitamin use, and calcium supplement use. Significant inverse correlates were body mass index, winter and spring blood draw, history of diabetes, sedentary behavior, smoking, and black race/ethnicity. Correlates varied somewhat within season, race/ethnicity, and sex. These findings help identify persons at risk for low vitamin D status for both clinical and research purposes

Circulating concentrations of vitamin D in relation to pancreatic cancer risk in European populations

Evidence from in vivo, in vitro and ecological studies are suggestive of a protective effect of vitamin D against pancreatic cancer (PC). However, this has not been confirmed by analytical epidemiological studies. We aimed to examine the association between pre-diagnostic circulating vitamin D concentrations and PC incidence in European populations. We conducted a pooled nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study's second survey (HUNT2) cohorts. In total, 738 primary incident PC cases (EPIC n = 626; HUNT2 n = 112; median follow-up = 6.9 years) were matched to 738 controls. Vitamin D [25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3 combined] concentrations were determined using isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Conditional logistic regression models with adjustments for body mass index and smoking habits were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Compared with a reference category of >50 to 75 nmol/L vitamin D, the IRRs (95% CIs) were 0.71 (0.42–1.20); 0.94 (0.72–1.22); 1.12 (0.82–1.53) and 1.26 (0.79–2.01) for clinically pre-defined categories of ≤25; >25 to 50; >75 to 100; and >100 nmol/L vitamin D, respectively (p for trend = 0.09). Corresponding analyses by quintiles of season-standardized vitamin D concentrations also did not reveal associations with PC risk (p for trend = 0.23). Although these findings among participants from the largest combination of European cohort studies to date show increasing effect estimates of PC risk with increasing pre-diagnostic concentrations of vitamin D, they are not statistically significant

Bruno Touschek: particle physicist and father of the electron-positron collider

This article gives a brief outline of the life and works of the Austrian physicist Bruno Touschek, who conceived, proposed and, 50 years ago, brought to completion the construction of AdA, the first electron-positron storage ring. The events which led to the approval of the AdA pro ject and the Franco-Italian collaboration which con- firmed the feasibility of electron-positron storage rings will be recalled. We shall illustrate Bruno Touschek's formation both as a theoretical physicist and as an expert in particle accelerators during the period be- tween the time he had to leave the Vienna Staat Gymnasium in 1938, because of his Jewish origin from the maternal side, until he arrived in Italy in the early 1950s and, in 1960, proposed to build AdA, in Frascati. The events which led to Touschek's collaboration with Rolf Wideroe in the construction of the first European betatron will be de- scribed. The article will make use of a number of unpublished as well as previously unknown documents, which include an early correspon- dence with Arnold Sommerfeld and Bruno Touschek's letters to his family in Vienna from Italy, Germany and Great Britain. The impact of Touschek's work on students and collaborators from University of Rome will be illustrated through his work on QED infrared radiative corrections to high energy e+e- experiments and the book Meccanica Statistica.Comment: To be published in EPJ